Courtesy photo / A crew with Leonard S. Fiore Inc. installs a temporary chime in the Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Leonard S. Fiore Inc. has a proud past and an exciting future.

In 1954, Leonard S. Fiore Sr. and his wife, Mary, began their construction business at the dining room table, expanding to the back porch, the garage, and eventually to an office in Eldorado. Seventy years later, the builder is poised to have its biggest year yet, 250 employees strong and in 2024 will deliver $150 million in completed projects, on a more than 20% year-over-year growth trajectory beginning in 2022 and forecasted to continue for the foreseeable future.

With each successive generation of leadership, the company built on its foundations to evolve from a local contractor to a premier regional builder. During their 40-year tenure at the helm, Leonard’s sons, Leonard Fiore Jr., Richard Fiore Sr. and Michael A. Fiore, guided the company through its initial major growth period, expanding geographically to neighboring central Pennsylvania communities and tackling projects with increasing size and complexity.

In 2022, the executive team transitioned to Joey Irwin, president; Pat Irwin, chief operating officer; and Richard Fiore Jr., executive vice president. They are supported by Sara Fiore-Gunnett, appointed vice president of finance, and Michael L. Fiore, who oversees all of the company’s project management functions.

Cultivating a well-rounded team also meant adding executives outside the family for the first time in the company’s history. Erin Meitzler, vice president of pursuits, leads efforts in sourcing and securing new work while Rebecca Young, director of human resources, is creating internal systems to foster employee development and company growth.

“It’s an exciting time for us. We are growing strategically,” Irwin said. “We continue to strengthen our organizational structure to expand our service capability for clients. We have dedicated professionals on our team who can add value and expertise at all stages of the project lifecycle from preconstruction to the trades work in the field. It’s a differentiator.”

Unique in offering construction services that cover all parts of the project lifecycle, L.S. Fiore provides comprehensive preconstruction, design-assist, design-build and construction management, in addition to general contracting.

“With experienced professionals dedicated to each of these delivery methods and project stages, L.S. Fiore is able to provide clients with experience-based information to facilitate business decisions from the earliest stages of project conception,” Meitzler said.

Over the years L.S. Fiore has built a diverse portfolio of projects, ranging from $100,000 to $75 million “and everything in between,” Irwin said. The company completes anywhere from 35 to 40 projects annually.

In an industry where costs and schedule outcomes can be unpredictable, Fiore’s accountability for delivering their projects on time and on budget make them a trusted client partner with decades long relationships.

L.S. Fiore has completed more than 100 projects for Penn State and on the commercial side, more than 35 projects for Walmart.

Working for Penn State has been significant.

“Working with the university for 40 years has exposed our company to many different types and sizes of projects that we would not normally get the opportunity to be part of. It’s been an invaluable working relationship which has broadened our management and trade’s capabilities,” Irwin said.

“Penn State and L.S. Fiore have successfully worked together on many of our university projects,” said William Sitzabee, vice president of facilities management and planning and Penn State’s chief facilities officer. “We greatly appreciate the long-standing collaboration with L.S Fiore.”

Among Irwin’s favorite projects — there are too many to mention — are the Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 National Memorial and The Fraser Centre, a 12-story high rise in State College.

“As a builder, when we are entrusted with a project as significant as Tower of Voices, it’s a testament to our craftsmanship and commitment to excellence. Looking back, building the Fraser Centre, the first high rise in downtown State College, was really significant to our growth,” Irwin said. “Taking on these milestone projects, national monuments, major local developments, required us to hone our processes and improved the way we deliver all our projects. There are thousands of projects over the years, too many to mention, but they have all made us a better builder.”

L.S. Fiore was the contractor for the EnergyCAP LLC office building in Boalsburg, completed in 2018.

“They offer a design/build solution. In my case, I was busy running/growing the business as founder and CEO of EnergyCAP and wanted a less time-intensive process than the alternative, which would have been to hire architects and engineers for the design phase and then receive bids from contractors and so on,” said developer and owner Steve Heinz. “The Fiore design/build contract was a ‘one stop shopping’ approach that best served my situation.”

L.S. Fiore also invests in long-term partnerships with subcontractors.

“Subcontractors are crucial to our success and they are an important component of the local business ecosystem beyond construction. It’s important to us to create opportunities for them on our projects and foster their capacity to do business,” Irwin said.

One such partner of 35 years is Don Longstreth of Longstreth Brothers Painting of Altoona.

“L.S. Fiore approaches their projects with a team atmosphere — you just don’t get that with a lot of other companies,” Longstreth said.

Charitable giving and volunteer efforts have always been integral to the company’s fabric as its philanthropic endeavors provide support to dozens of local organizations.

“My grandfather, if he saw a need, he did his best to take care of it. Our commitment to the community really started with him,” Pat Irwin said.

Being a family business is significant — seven third-generation members work for the company today.

“Our roots as a family business helped us establish the company culture in our shared values — a commitment to quality, conducting business with integrity, a team-based work environment and prioritizing customer satisfaction,” Joey Irwin said. “In order for the business to continue to grow, we needed leadership beyond family members. We are heavily invested in the development of our entire team.”

President/CEO Joe Hurd of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce calls Fiore an economic driver.

“When people outside Blair County talk about the economic drivers located here — particularly the family-owned businesses — L.S. Fiore is invariably a big part of that conversation,” Hurd said. “Not only have they built a strong reputation in the construction business, they’ve been generous in their support of efforts that benefit the community and they never hesitate to commit all levels of their staff to collaborative projects that ultimately make Blair County a great place to live and work.”

Joey Irwin said reaching 70 years is quite an accomplishment.

“The achievement of 70 years in business is a testament to the efforts and dedication of past leadership and many former and current team members. We’ve not only stood the test of time, but we’ve grown and continually improved the services we provide to our clients,” Joey Irwin said.

He said his grandfather would be impressed with today’s company.

“I can’t imagine my grandfather could have envisioned the company we’ve become and some of the projects we’ve built over the last 15-20 years,” Joey Irwin said. “Through the development and empowerment of our team we want to expand our footprint and continue to improve and grow the services we provide to new and current business partners. It’s an exciting time for us.”

The company plans to celebrate the anniversary at the Altoona Curve game on Sunday and with various events at the business throughout the year.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.